Frederick D. Small a/k/a Frederick Small v. Mississippi Department of Corrections

── Frederick D. Small a/k/a Frederick Small v. Mississippi Department of Corrections ── Court: Court of Appeals of Mississippi Date: May 19, 2026 Category: General IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI NO. 2025-CP-00654-COA FREDERICK D. SMALL A/K/A FREDERICK APPELLANT SMALL v. MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF APPELLEE CORRECTIONS DATE OF JUDGMENT: 05/12/2025 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. CAROL L. WHITE-RICHARD COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: SUNFLOWER COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: FREDERICK D. SMALL (PRO SE) ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: WILLIAM R. COLLINS NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - OTHER DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 05/19/2026 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: BEFORE WILSON, P.J., EMFINGER AND LASSITTER ST. PÉ, JJ. LASSITTER, ST. PÉ, J., FOR THE COURT: ¶1. Frederick Small appeals the Sunflower County Circuit Court’s order denying his complaint for judicial review. After reviewing the record, we find no error and affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY ¶2. In 2010, Small was convicted of burglary of a dwelling in violation of Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-17-23 (Supp. 2008) in the Circuit Court of DeSoto County. In accordance with Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Rev. 2007), Small was sentenced as a habitual offender and ordered to serve eighteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Small’s underlying convictions for his habitual offender sentence included a 1996 conviction of aggravated burglary in Tennessee, a 2001 conviction from Tate County for residential burglary, and a 2001 conviction from Panola County for residential burglary. ¶3. In 2014, the Legislature enacted Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-3-2, codifying for the first time a list of offenses to be considered per se violent. Burglary of a dwelling under section 97-17-23 was included in that list. Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-2(o) (Rev. 2014). ¶4. Nearly ten years later, in 2023, Small filed a request through MDOC’s Administrative Remedy Program (ARP) and requested that he be placed in a community work center (CWC) or be deemed eligible to receive trusty earned time. In his ARP request, Small claimed that he was a nonviolent offender and therefore eligible for placement in a CWC or trusty to receive earned time because when he was convicted of burglary in 2010, burglary of a dwelling was not considered a per se violent offense. ¶5. In 2025, after exhausting his administrative remedies, Small filed a petition for judicial review in the Circuit Court of Sunflower County pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated section 47-5-807 (Rev. 2023). In his petition, Small claimed that he was entitled to trusty earned time or CWC placement. Small also argued that MDOC violated his right to due process and subjected him to ex post facto laws by classifying him as a violent offender because burglary of a dwelling was not a statutory crime of violence when Small was convicted in 2010. 2 ¶6. The circuit court denied Small’s requested relief and affirmed MDOC’s decision. Relying heavily on Watson v. State, 329 So. 3d 1215 (Miss. Ct. App. 2021), the circuit court reasoned that a “legislative change” made burglary of a dwelling a violent offense, so therefore, Small was not subjected to an ex post facto law. ¶7. The circuit court also noted that to establish a due process violation, Small had to show that MDOC misapplied its reasonable prisoner classification regulations, and he failed to do so. The court concluded by finding that under the federal and state constitutions, there is no constitutional right to a requested housing assignment. The circuit court found that MDOC’s decision to deny Small’s request for pla